We're worthy winners: Guardiola

FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola believes his side were worthy winners of the Champions League quarterfinal tie against AC Milan.

Written by Indo-Asian News Service

Read Time: 2 mins

Madrid:

FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola believes his side were worthy winners of the Champions League quarterfinal tie against AC Milan.

Two Lionel Messi penalties put Barca on the way to a 3-1 win at the Camp Nou on Tuesday night and Guardiola feels that referee Bjorn Kuipers called both correctly.

The first penalty was for a clear foul on Messi, while the second was more controversial for shirt pulling on Sergio Busquets during a corner kick.

"You can see that they were penalties on the TV. Maybe there are places where they would not get given, but shirt pulling in the area is always a penalty," said Guardiola, who responded to comments by Milan's former Barca striker Zlatan Ibrahimovich, who said he couldn't understand the decision.

"If Ibra says we are in the semi-finals because of the referee, then he should take a look back at history. They have not given us any gifts at all. We do our speaking on the pitch," Guardiola was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

"We had more control at the back and we wanted to find superiority on the pitch. We had almost 20 shots on the Italian goal. We are happy to be in the semi-final for the fifth time in succession."

Guardiola's only setback on the night was when defender Gerard Pique was forced out of the game with a muscle problem. Barca, though, have confirmed that the injury is not serious and Pique could be available for this coming weekend's game away to Zaragoza.

"We can't control injuries, but of course neither do we want out players to suffer them," said Guardiola, who put his side's fifth semi-final appearance down to the power of the club.

Barca will now play either Chelsea or Benfica for a place in what would be their third final in four seasons.